“It’s the right call,” I said softly, kissing one shoulder blade through the cotton of his Henley.
His hands came up and covered mine over his stomach. “I hate this,” he whispered fiercely. “I don’t want to leave here any more than Katy does, but it’s what’s safest for the packs. I know how she feels. Jesus, I thought I lost you for an afternoon. It’s been almost a week since Maren went missing.”
“We’ll get her back,” I swore.
“Will we?” He didn’t sound so convinced and that shook me. I had never seen Remy as anything but confident and strong. “Maren’s been missing for days, Skye. Kit’s been missing longer than that, and now Jayla? Jayla’s fourteen. What the fuck could they want with a kid?”
My arms tightened around him. I didn’t have the words to answer his questions. Those were my questions, too.
“We have no idea who’s behind this except that the Norwood and Long Mesa packs might be involved,” he seethed, words spilled out faster as his anger flared brighter. “I don’t want to leave either, but I can’t risk a member of our pack going missing next.”
His body gave a violent shudder, and I read his thoughts as easily as if we were in wolf form.
I can’t risk you.
“Hey,” I said softly, waiting until he turned in my arms and was looking down at me. I slid my hands up his chest, over his shoulders, until I was cupping his face. “You’re making the right call. All the packs are.”
I swallowed as I continued, the words hard to get out. “GPA isn’t safe anymore.”
He still looked frustrated as hell, his dark eyes full of fury and anguish. “Maybe I could convince my dad and the others to only send the females back. The rest of us can stay here—”
“Oh, no,” I said quickly, shaking my head hard. “Remember the last time you tried sending me away to protect me?”
I meant the comment to come across as half-teasing, hoping to earn a smile and relieve some of the tension, but his expression turned thunderous and he pulled out of my hold, stepping back. The physical distance was like a punch to the chest.
“Rem,” I tried softly, pleading, “I was kidding.”
“You almost died, Skye,” he replied quietly, his gaze never wavering. “I can’t go through that again. Not with you, not with my sister…”
I closed the distance between us. “I’m sorry. I honestly didn’t mean it like that. I just hate the idea of you being anywhere but with me. You know that. We’re stronger together.”
He lifted a hand to my face, sweeping a thumb across my cheekbone as I leaned into his touch. “I know, and you’re right. I just hate feeling helpless.”
“You’re not helpless,” I returned firmly, “and going back to our own territory isn’t running away. It’s being smart. Until we know who the threat is, we can’t know what they’ll do next.”
He dropped his forehead to mine, his minty breath fanning across my lips. “I love you.”
My lips curved into a smile as I wound my arms around his neck, arching my chest to his. “Good. I love you, too.”
His mouth found mine in a slow, lingering kiss that was as much about comfort as it was passion. His lips fit perfectly to mine as he deepened the kiss, his tongue sliding against mine in a slow dance that made my blood heat.
After several long beats, he pulled back and rested his forehead against mine. “I need to go talk to Katy.”
“I know,” I said softly, running my hands through the short hair at the nape of his neck. “Go talk to her, and then we’ll start packing everything up.”
With a nod, he moved away from me, but stopped when he was at the door.
“I’m sorry.” The apology was so quiet, I almost missed it.
I was still in a daydream, my fingertips pressed to the swollen skin of my lips where his mouth had just been.
“What?” I asked absently, turning to look at him.
He cleared his throat. “I’m sorry I couldn’t keep you safe here.”
I frowned, shaking my head slowly. Didn’t he get it? “Safe isn’t a place, Remy. It’s not this school, or in Blackwater, or any other place. Safe is you.”
His eyes did that melty thing I loved, going soft and warm as he studied me with a small smile that turned my knees to jelly before he ducked out of the room. I heard his feet on the stairs as he went upstairs, and I leaned back on the edge of his desk with a smile to myself.
A smile that quickly disappeared when I heard his heavy footfalls thumping violently back down the stairs.
I came out of his office and Remy nearly knocked me over, his dark eyes wild.
“What?” I demanded, grabbing his arm.
“She’s gone.”
“What?” I repeated, stunned. He couldn’t mean…
He slammed a fist into the wall, the drywall shattering under the force. Chunks exploded, a fine white dust filling the space between us. “Katy. She’s fucking gone.”
13
Remy reached behind him and fisted his shirt, already toeing off his boots. Every muscle in his body was tight, tense with anger and fear. He tossed his shirt on the ground.
“Call Rhodes,” he ordered me, heading for the back door. “Tell him to meet me. I’m going to head east—”
I already had my phone out and was furiously texting Rhodes and Larkin. Text bubbles immediately appeared followed by Rhodes saying they were on their way.
“Let me come with you,” I said, putting my phone on the counter.
He turned sharply, his dark brows knitted together. “Are you serious?”
“Yes! Katy’s my best friend.” Panic was clawing at me. The idea of sitting here and doing nothing made me crazy.
“Skye, we don’t have time to argue about this—”
“Katy is missing. It’s only been a few minutes so she can’t be far. Besides, you’re going to have to leave me alone in the cabin if you go after her.” Ugh, that was a low blow, but I hated the idea of pacing these floors again.
The muscles in his shoulder bunched, every single delicious ab tightening as he sucked in a sharp breath and realized he was screwed either way.
His nostrils flared. “Fine.”
He barely finished the word before I was moving past him, taking off my shirt. We finished stripping on the deck, not bothering to even glance at each other until we had shifted.
As soon as my paws touched the wood of the deck, I shook out my fur and scented the incoming storm.
We don’t have much time before the storm hits, Remy told me, a low growl in his throat. Don’t leave my side.
I looked at him. Let’s go.
He huffed out a bark that sounded like an agreement and took off to the right, leaping off the deck in a fluid motion and disappearing into the woods beyond the yard.
I scrambled off the deck, following him into the woods.
The wind gusted off the side of the mountain, lifting snow from the deep drifts and slapping it across our faces as we raced deeper into the wilderness.
I kept catching traces of Katy, but Remy seemed to have a lock on her scent. He barely paused or hesitated as he worked his way through the woods and over rocks.
A minute later we ran into a wall of snow. It came down heavy and thick and fast, nearly blinding us as Remy struggled to track Katy’s scent over the fresh layer of white powder that was already covering her tracks.
Fuck!
He slid to a stop, pawing at the ground, his large head swinging around as he tried to find her scent.
A low whine in my throat, I nudged his shoulder with my nose. Calm down, I begged. We’ll find her.
His head turned back to me, and I could see the desperation in his dark eyes.
A chorus of howls split the silence behind us. I knew those voices; Rhodes was coming along with a lot of our pack. Remy and I returned the howls on instinct, the sounds ripping from our throats in a beautiful harmony to let them know where we were.
This way, he told me, turning and lunging through so
me underbrush and chasing the fading scent of his sister.
We broke through the treeline into a clearing. My heart surged seeing Katy’s reddish-brown wolf standing in the middle. As fast as relief swept through me, ice froze my blood when I realized she wasn’t alone.
Two men stood on either side of her, caging her in with guns trained on her body. They were dressed in black from head to toe with black ski masks covering their faces, making it look like they should be running out of a bank instead of standing in the woods with a wolf. Tiny red dots were brilliantly bright against the white snow falling.
Katy was still on her feet, growling at them in a way that would have made most men—most humans—back away slowly so as not to piss off the big red wolf.
A gust of wind swept through the clearing, the scent on the air confirming what I already suspected. They were shifters.
Humans would have shot first, and asked questions later. These two seemed completely at ease with the wolf in front of them growling and snarling, her jaws snapping at air in a desperate warning.
Everything slowed around me, except Remy.
He didn’t break stride, running full speed at the guy on the left and launching into the air, his black fur a deadly shadow that landed on the man. The gun arced wide, a stray shot rang out as the man landed under Remy.
The other guy swung his gun at Remy’s head, the laser pointer landing on the white star above his eyes.
My legs were already moving, a snarl ripping from my throat as I tried to intercept the bullet meant for him.
I landed hard on the man, knocking him to the frozen ground with a vicious snap of my teeth. I tasted blood in my mouth, that all-too-familiar coppery tang sliding down my throat as my teeth sank into the muscle and bone of his shoulder.
He swung out blindly with a shout, the butt of the gun landing across my nose so hard my eyes watered, but I didn’t let go.
Katy jumped forward, her mouth on the wrist above the hand that held the rifle. Another shot cracked the sky as the second bullet fired, this one buried deep in the snow.
The man under us screamed, his free arm uselessly throwing wild punches with his only uninjured arm, but Katy only bit down harder until she tore her mouth away. A spray of blood coated the snow red. He landed one last punch to my throat, dislodging me.
I huffed out a cough, more annoyed than hurt, as the man scrambled back from us. He cradled his injured arm to his chest and used his free hand to pull out a handgun holstered at his waist. He leveled the gun first at Katy and then me.
Remy was there suddenly, his massive body between us and the man. I glanced back at the other guy he had brought down, but that guy wasn’t moving. His motionless body was limp in the snow.
The guy with the gun trained on us awkwardly crawled back until he hit a tree. He used the tree for leverage to haul himself to his feet.
“Fuck, fuck, fuck!” he swore, his blue eyes huge behind his mask as he looked at us and then his friend. He aimed the gun at Remy and a warning growl rumbled out of me.
The gun moved to me, but Remy moved in front of me, blocking me.
“Don’t fucking come any closer!” the man shouted, staggering several steps to the side.
My heart pounded viciously in my ribcage. If he stumbled and went down, he could hit one of us with an accidental shot. Remy’s fear mingled with my own, the bond linking us vibrant and charged as our emotions tangled together.
Thankfully the man stayed upright until he made it to where a pair of snowmobiles were stashed behind a wide evergreen. He kept the gun on us as he got onto the seat and started the engine.
“Don’t fucking think about following me!” he warned. He jerked his head back to his friend. “Fuck!”
Giving the snowmobile some gas, he lowered the gun so he could steer with his arm and vanished around a corner.
Remy moved to chase him, but I quickly moved in front of him.
He reared back, a warning growl aimed at me in his throat. Get out of the way, Skye.
I dropped my front legs, ducking my head in submission. He’s gone, and the storm is coming faster. We need to get back.
Indecision warred in his eyes. The feral, wolf part of him wanted to hunt the man who threatened us. The rational, human side of him knew that getting stuck on this mountain, exposed, could be suicide.
With a huff, he gave a sharp nod and turned away from me to stand in front of Katy.
Katy dropped to her belly, nose to the ground, a high pitched whine coming from her and she crawled to her alpha.
He snarled at her, his teeth snapped until she rolled over in the snow and exposed her stomach in submission.
She had fucked up. Big time.
And we all could have died because of it.
A low groan filled the air and all of our heads turned to see the other man rolling to his knees.
Without thinking, he pulled the ski mask from his head and tossed it to the ground, his blond hair dark and matted with sweat.
Another moan and he turned, seeing us standing behind him. His gray eyes were bloodshot and pained as he looked at us.
Forgetting about Katy for the moment, Remy issued him a warning growl. I prayed the idiot would be smart and stay put.
The man slowly shook his head, on his knees in the snow before us.
“For what it’s worth,” he started with a gravelly voice, “I’m sorry. We didn’t have a choice.”
Before we could react, he pulled a gun from the holster strapped to his thigh, aimed it at his temple and pulled the trigger.
I flinched back, crimson staining the snow in a grotesque arc above where he fell lifeless, eyes open and unseeing as they stared at me.
Oh, my God. I whimpered and backed away.
Christ, Remy hissed, shaking his head and moving back. His body bumped into mine, and I leaned into him, needing his warmth as my blood ran cold.
Katy was still on the ground, her entire body trembling.
Remy stepped away from me and went to her, nudging her with his nose until she got to her feet, tail firmly tucked between her legs and ears flat against her head. She kept her head down, following Remy as he turned.
Let’s go, he told me.
I kept glancing back as we left the clearing. The dark figure was already covered in a layer of snow, but my eyes kept replaying his final words. The anguish in his eyes when he leveled the gun at himself.
A shudder tore through my body. I changed my focus to following Remy, his black coat starkly visible through the heavily falling snow around us.
We met up with Rhodes and the others on our way back to the cabin. The only sounds were the whispers of our bodies moving through the snow. Everything else was blessedly, cursedly, silent.
14
I pulled my last shirt off the hanger in my now empty closet and folded it before tossing it into the open suitcase on the floor. It hadn’t taken me long to pack - I didn’t have a lot of things. There wasn’t a room filled with possessions I had accumulated over a lifetime or even four years at GPA.
My life consisted of clothes that were only a few months old, some basic toiletries, my ereader and a couple pairs of shoes. Everything fit into a large suitcase.
A soft knock at the door made me turn, my heart skipping a beat at the sight of Remy filling the doorway.
“Hey,” he said, his deep voice like gravel as his chocolate eyes swept down me before landing on my suitcase.
“Hi,” I replied as my gaze moved over him. He looked utterly exhausted. “How did it go?”
Once they got back, Remy and Katy had jumped onto a video chat with their parents. Not wanting to eavesdrop, I came upstairs to pack. I still had heard when Mallory yelled at her daughter through the screen for being so reckless.
He folded his arms across his broad chest, leaning his head against the frame. “Will took Katy back to the dorms to pack. My parents are furious. I think they would both be driving down to pick her up themselves if the storm wasn’t so bad.”
I looked back out the window. The snow hadn’t let up since we had come back almost an hour earlier, and the weather reports said it would likely keep coming down until later on in the evening.
He pushed off the doorframe, kicking the door shut before crossing the room. He stopped in front of me, fury in his eyes as his hand came up and tenderly cradled my jaw.
I made a face at him, ignoring the pull of the bruised skin over my left cheek. “It looks worse than it feels.”
I could practically hear his molars grinding together. Dropping his hand, he walked to the bed and sat down on the edge. After a second, he exhaled loudly, bracing his arms on either side of his body and dropping his chin to his chest.
I moved silently to him, maneuvering myself easily between his legs and tangling my fingers in his thick hair.
His arms came around me, hugging me tightly as he pressed his face against my chest, his cheek resting above where my heart beat.
“How’s Katy?” I asked, still stroking his hair.
Pulling back slightly, he looked up at me through a fringe of dark lashes. “Not great. She knows she messed up and feels bad.”
My lips turned down. “And how are you?”
He blinked once, his expression a forced sort of relaxed that I didn’t buy for a second. “I’m fine.”
I tilted my head to the side. “Just fine?”
He sighed, shaking his head slightly. “I keep seeing those guns. And you and Katy … I haven’t been that scared since I watched you tackle Cassian off that damn cliff.”
My lips thinned at his admission. The echoing thrum of adrenaline filled my veins as I remembered staring at the gun. “I was scared, too.”
He snorted derisively. “I never should have taken you with me.”
My hand curled around his hair, pulling his head back slightly to look at me. “Don’t do that. I pushed to go with you.”
He frowned at me, his eyes lingering on the bruise. “It’s my job to keep you safe.”
“And it’s my job to keep you safe,” I countered heatedly. “I get that you’re the alpha, Rem. I love that. I love you. But that doesn’t mean you have to do it all alone.”
Prey (Blackwater Pack Book 2) Page 12